Express-car



(1% Model.)

' F. D. GELDERSLEEVE.

EXPRESS GAR: NO. 516,007.

Patented Mar. 6, 1894,

me rum. umawmma COMPANY.

\vAsmuarou, 0. c.

FRANK D. GILDERSLEEVE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

EXPRESS-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 516,007, dated March 6,1894.

Application filed December 6,1893. Serial No. 492,895. 0 model.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK D. GILDER- sLEEyE, of the city of St. Louis,State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inExpress-Oars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanylng drawings, forming a parthereof.

My improvement relates to the construction of express cars and consistsin the novel arrangement and combination of parts as more fully hereinafter described and designated in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section of a carcontaining my improvement. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section takenon the line n:w of Fig. 1 with the doors in an open position. Fig. 3 isa plan view of one of the doors, mechanism for locking the sameandineans actuated by the dropping of the door for releasing the springroller journaled in the floor of the car; and Fig. 4: is a detail insection showing the mechaniszn which co-operates with the spring pawlfor locking the door and the bolt of an ordinary combination look (notshown).

The invention consists generally of a railway car constructed in theform of acage and composed of a series of metallic bars of jailconstruction. This construction maybe carried out at one end of'thc caronly or that portion used by an express company, or the entire car maybe composed of aframe of this character and the casing or wood worksecured to the bars in any mechanical manner.

The invention further consists of metallic doors all of which are to beclosed simultaneously by the manipulation of a single lever which may belocated at any convenient position within the car and within easy reachof the express messenger. If found desirable a safe located within thecar may be incased in a suitable metallic cage the front of which may beclosed by suitable metallic doors which are also operated simultaneouslywith the closing of the doors previously referred to.

The object of the invention is therefore to allow the robbers accessinto the car and securely cage them within the same by the manipulationof the lever before referred to.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents an ordinary express car withinwhich a metallic cage 2 is built of any well known construction. Inaddition to the ordinary sliding doors usually employed,two or moremetallic doors 3 are used, which when in an open position are partiallylocated Within boxing 4 projecting doors 3 as before stated are alsometallic and of such a weight as to fall instantly by gravity whenreleased by the mechanism hereinafter to be described, said doors movingfreely within metallic guides 5. Secured to the roof of the metalliccage are brackets 6 the lower ends of which form bearings for the lever7. The lower ends of the said levers are hooked shaped as shown at 8upon which the doors 3 rest when the same are in an open position.Attached to the upper or free ends of said levers are wire ropes 9 whichpass over pulleys 1O journaled in the brackets 6 and said ropes lead tothe center of the car and are attached to a single rope or rod 11 whichpasses over the pulley 12 the free end of which is attached to the upperend of a lever 13 which lever is pivoted to a bearing 14 attached to thecage. It will thus be seen that by oper ating the lever 13 in thedirection as shown by the arrow in Fig. 1, the hooked ends 8 of thelever 7 will be moved from under the doors 3, thus releasing them fromtheir elevated position and allowing them to instantly fall by gravity.

15 represents an ordinary safe which is partially inclosed by a metalliccage 16 the same being wholly inclosed by dropping the metallic doors 17in a similar manner to the doors 3, the same being actuated by the lever1? simultaneously with the dropping of the doors 3, similar mechanismbeing employed and cooperating with the rope 11.

Referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that one edge of the doors isprovided with a rack bar 18, and secured within the stationary part ofthe car and suitably incased are spring-actuated pawls 19 to which arefixed spindles 20 which project either inside or outside of the carwhereby they may be rotated in the direction as shown by the arrow whenthe same are released from a locked position and thus allow the door tobe'elevated or opened. The engaging ends 21 of the pawls 20 are movablysecured to the pawl proper and bearing beyond the roof of the car. The

against said ends are springs 22 for holding the same in engagement withthe rack bars 18, thus allowing the doors to drop but preventing thesame from being elevated without rotating the entire pawl. From thepawls 20 are extensions 23 with which co-operate the extensions 24 of aplate 25. Said plate 25 is movably secured to that portion of the cageadjacent to the edges of the doors and when pulled out in position asshown in Fig. 4 the extensions 24 forming a part thereof are moved fromover the extensions 23 of the pawls 20, thus allowing the pawls to beturned for releasing the doors from their lock ed position, but whensaid plate is shoved in so as to bring the extensions 24 in contact withthe extensions 23 of the pawl 20 as shown in Fig. 3, said pawls cannotbe rotated and consequently the doors 3 will be held in a lockedposition. In order to prevent the plate 25 from being pulled out forreleasing the pawls 20, a staple 26 is secured to the same whichreceives the bolt of an ordinary combination look (not shown), andtherefore the extensions 24 of said plate are caused to remain over theextensions 23 of the pawls 20. In practice the plate 25 is shoved in andthe bolt of an ordinary combination lock passed into the staple 26forming a part thereof, and the pawls 20 will then be in a position tocooperate with the rack bars 18 of the doors 3 when the same are droppedfrom their ele vated position by the manipulation of the lever 13. It issupposed that the combination is only known at the terminal stations,and therefore should robbers enter the car the messenger on throwing thelever 13 will lock himself within the car as well and neither therobbers nor the express messenger can be released until the car hasarrived at such station.

It'may sometimes happen that the robbers would place in the doorway ofthe car and immediately under the dropping doors 3 some obstructingobject, thus preventing the doors from closing whereby they would not besecured within the cage; and to overcome this objection I employ thefollowing mechanism: Journaled within the floor of the car immediatelybelow the doors 3 and extending a suitable distance above the floor ofthe car are rollers 27 to the shaft 28 of which is fixed a toothed wheelwith which co-oporates the lower end of a pawl 29, said pawl beingpivoted to the cage adjacent to the guides 5 for the door. The upperends of the pawls when in their normal position are in the path of theupper doors 3, whereby the instant dropping of said doors will move thelower end of the pawl out of contact with the toothed wheels. Also fixedto the shaft 28 is a bevel gear wheel 30 which meshes with a similargear 31 j ournaled in the floor of the car, said last named gear beingturned by a suitable crank for rotating the rollers 27 in one direction.Secured to any stationary part of the car is a volute spring 32 whichcooperates with the shaft 28 of the roller 27 and revolves the saidroller when released by the pawl 29. In practice the roller is turned towind up the spring and is held in position by the pawl 29 until the caris attacked by robbers, and thus should an object be placed within thepath of the dropping doors, the doors on dropping will release saidrollers causing the same to be turned by the springs 32 and thus castoff the said obstruction, allowing the doors to drop to their fullextent. In carrying out my invention I do not limit myself to theemployment of rollers for the purpose stated as other devices may beused to accomplish the same result, the principal object of theinvention being to securely cage the robbers after they have entered thecar, and convey them to a suitable point along the road where they maybe removed and arrested.

In carrying out my invention it may be found desirable to use a separaterope such as 11 and lever for closing the doors of the burglar-proofinclosure for the safe, which lever can be located in close proximity tothe lever 13 for operating or closing the burglarproof doors of saidinclosure. independent of the car doors, whereby the safe in the carwill be protected in case the express messenger finds it impossible toclose the car doors after the robbers have gained access to the interiorof the car. The closing of the doors of the inclosure may also beperformed by the same lever which operates the car doors, and yet notoperate all the doors simultaneously as before stated. For instance aslight movement of the lever will allow the car door to close and afurther movement of the lever in the same direction will afterward closethe door of the inclosure for the safe. The principal object I have inview is to construct a burglar-proof oar, doors of like constructionwhich are normally open whereby the robber is allowed access to theinterior of the car, a burglar-proof inelosure within the car for thesafe, burglar-proof doors for said inclosure, and mechanism so devisedthat all the doors may be operated simultaneously or singly for thepurposes set forth.

The general construction of the car and all mechanism pertaining theretomay be edectually used in banks or other buildings where valuables arekept.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. An express carcomposed of a series of metallic bars, vertically operating doors oflike construction and normally elevated, suitable mechanism for holdingsaid doors in an elevated position, means for releasing said doors, anda lock for the doors, substantially as set forth.

2. An express car composed of a series of metallic bars, verticallyoperating doors of like construction and normally opened, suitablemechanism for holding said doors in an elevated position, an inclosurewithin the car for the reception of a safe and composed of a series ofmetallic bars, vertically operating doors for the same, and mechanismcooperating with all of said doors for releasing the same from theirelevatedpositions simultaneously, substantially as set forth.

3. In an express car, of burglar-proof construction, verticallyoperating doors, a burglar-proof in closure within the car, verticallyoperating doors for the same, and means for overcoming an obstructionplaced in the path of the first named doors, substantially as set forth.

4. In an express car of burglar-proof construction, like doors for thesame, and means actuated by said doors for removing an obstructionlocated in the path of said doors, substantially as set forth.

- 5. An express ear of bnrglarproof con- FRANK D. GILDERSLEEVE.

Witnesses:

JAMES J. ()Dononon, (3. F. KELLER.

means for 20

